University of Memphis candidates lay out their visions for the institution

President hopefuls discuss budget, enrollment issues

March 20 2014 - Patricio Gonzalez, 23, a history major at Victory University addresses Guy Bailey, a finalist for the presidency of the University of Memphis, about his thoughts on undocumented students. Currently undocumented students cannot get in-state tuition at Tennessee state schools. (William DeShazer/The Commercial Appeal)

The Commercial Appeal

George Hynd

The Commercial Appeal

University of Memphis Provost M. David Rudd

Guy Bailey

The Commercial Appeal

Sharon Gaber, provost at the University of Arkansas

As state higher education funding has slumped, urban research universities like the University of Memphis have increasingly relied on student tuition and fees to keep their doors open. But that revenue source also has dwindled in recent years.

Fewer enrolled students, compounded by diminishing state appropriations, have left the U of M with a $20 million budget hole in the university's $478 million annual operating budget. At the U of M, less than half, or about 44 percent, of the students that enroll as freshman will leave the school with a diploma in hand six years later.

The next U of M president will inherit those challenges at a time the university also has said it aims to double spending for research funded by outside grants and contracts from about $50 million, to $100 million over a ten-year period.

"Going forward, the sky is no longer the limit in higher education," Guy Bailey, former president of the University of Alabama and a current professor," told U of M faculty and students Thursday. "There are serious budget issues that everybody faces. But I think there are also creative solutions to those problems."

Bailey and two other president candidates, George Hynd, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the College of Charleston, and M. David Rudd, provost at the University of Memphis were on campus this past week for second-round interviews with the hiring advisory committee and to participate in campus forums with faculty and staff, students, alumni and the community at the University Center River Room No. 300. A fourth candidate, Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas, will visit on Monday.

In separate 45-minute forums with students and faculty, the candidates laid out their plans to bolster admission and graduation rates, increase external research funding and stabilize the university's operating budget.

Students and faculty also asked the candidates everything from what they would do about the tenure committee process to whether a new student recreation center is viable for a campus with large numbers of commuter students.

A group of students from Victory University also have pressed the candidates about whether they would allow students without legal U.S. residence who live in Tennessee to pay in-state tuition. They also have asked the candidates about whether they would be willing to fund scholarships to the university.

The struggling for-profit university announced earlier this month it will close at the end of the spring semester, leaving nearly 1,600 Victory students, many of them low-income Memphians attending on full scholarships, in the lurch.

Interim president R. Brad Martin and Rudd have said they back plans to abolish out-of-state tuition and to allow successful students without legal U.S. residency to pay in-state tuition rates. Martin has also said he would personally fund 25 four-year scholarships that would mirror the Hope Scholarship requirements for students without legal U.S. residency.

Rudd reiterated support for those plans Monday, and said he's a champion of first-generation scholars and their unique struggles. Hynd and Bailey also said they support students without legal U.S. residency, but that the level of their support would hinge on Tennessee law.

Rudd, Hynd and Bailey all agreed the university needs to focus on increasing enrollment and student retention by expanded recruiting at both the national and local levels, improving the student advisory process, and growing student support services and programs.

"I think, generally speaking, the whole notion of undergraduate recruitment and retention is a huge issue here on this campus. The four-year graduation rate is not good, but if you start to look at certain subpopulations — it's even less appealing," Hynd said, referring to an African-American graduation rate that is in the single digits.

Faculty concerns about the university's evolving research model and how professors will be evaluated going forward also were addressed by each candidate. The candidates agreed that a budget model providing includes time for research and clearer department standards for faculty would help address those challenges.

Bailey also pointed to partnerships he helped develop as president of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas to increase external research funding. Those relationships included a partnership between Texas Tech and The National Institute for Renewable Energy to design and operate a research wind farm. Texas Tech also teamed up with Bayer CropScience to create drought-resistant cotton seeds.